Girdle



Sept. 20, 1949'. -w. Ii'YSPIESS I GIRDLE Filed May s, 1946- INVEN TOR. W/LL/AM R. SP/ESS A T TORNEV Patented Sept. 20, 1949 GIRDL'E WViil'l'iam R; spiess, Teaneck, 5N. 5e, to Elexnit Company, Ind, a corporatinn of New Jersey Application May 's, 1946, No. eesme The present invention relates to confinin garments 'as girdles, which are made from elasticknitted materials. 7

Girdles are madefrorn a torso encircling en- ,velope which 'is'shaped and'confirres the body of the wearer in te -thereby give it the desired line and contour. In order to-give the'garmen t the desired'confining resilience and elasticity, the fabric from which the ,girdleis made conventionally has incorporated it elastic thread or yarn.

in the past, many attempts have been made to overcome the tendency of'theupper and free end of the girdle to curl .or roll over upon itself, which tendency gave rise to unsightly bulges under the dress or overgarm'ent and resulted thelgirdlleuncomrcn'table to thewearer. In iPat. No. .2,285,2i'57 gmtedJune 2,: 197412, to

A. Martin, assignor to flexnit 'Uompany,

Inc., there is described and illustrated a construction whereby the tendency of the upper edge of a confining garment to curl upon itself has been eliminated.

Although the stiffening means illustrated and described in that patent successfully prevents the upper or free edge of the girdle from rolling over on itself, it fails to take into account another disadvantage in appearance and comfort, arising frequently from the tendency to form in the flesh of the wearers body itself above the upper edge of the girdle unsightly and uncomfortable bulges or rolls, which disadvantage could not be prevented in prior art girdles although complained of by the purchasing public.

The present invention therefore contemplates the provision of a confining garment or girdle constructed so as to prevent the body of the wearer from protruding or bulging over the upper edge of the girdle, which is accomplished by providing a resilient, preferably stiffened band, either connected to the upper free edge of the girdle or as an integral part of it and extending from one spaced end of the band to another spaced end thereof into an adjustable non-resilient or nonelastic strap, which at the rear of the girdle is :garment or gird-1e =1 ll which is formed from a conwenttonal knitted or woven fabric preterablyhaving a two-way stretch is provided at each free end with aconventional hinder or trim t2 and ll.

The illustrated girdle M is oft-he conventional tnpe formed from .a-seamless unitary sheath or tube of stretchable, elastic, knitted material.

The garment is also provided atthefront and rear thereof with conventional hose supporters or garters 116 and f8. f 7

It has long been recognized that with girdles, foundation garments, that is, inany garment with which the body of the wearer is shaped by the tension thereof, the flesh of the wearer above the upper edge It tends to roll 'overyi't and Present an fold. v

This is particularly true with wearers who 'are even but slightly stout since the abdomen is "held in by the girdle to force excess flesh over the top edge ofthe girdle. The same thing occurs with even normally thin people by reason of the fact that girdles come in standard lengths and are not custom made or tailored to the size of the wearer's body. Thus, in many cases, the girdle is somewhat short causing the abdomen of the wearer above the top edge of the confining garment to roll over it.

In order to overcome such bulging of the abdomen or body of the wearer by the straplike effect of the girdle, I secure along the upper edge l2 at the front of the garment, the preferably resilient band 20 which extends from side to side of the girdle at the front thereof.

This band 20 is preferably provided with the pockets 22 in which a suitable stiffening means such as a stay may be arranged, such as illustrated in Pat. No. 2,285,217 and which prevents the band 20, itself, from folding or rolling over on the girdle II].

In order to give the required abdominal support by the band 20, I secure along the end 24 thereof, the strap 26 and to the other end 28 of the band 20, the strap 30, which straps are made from a non-resilient or non-stretchable fabric.

The straps 26 and 30 are spaced from the upper bound or trimmed edge 32 of the girdle at the rear thereof so that they form no part of the confining garment but serve only to tighten the band 20 against the abdomen or body of the wearer to prevent the flesh from rolling over the top edge of the band and so eliminate the formation of unsightly bulges, rolls and welts in the body.

unsightly and uncomfortable bulge or To join the straps together, the rear face of the I strap 30 has secured thereon the upper and lower hooks 34 and 36, which may be hooked onto the upper and lower eyes 38 and 40 to lock the strap in position on the body of the wearer. In order that the diameter formed by the band 20 and straps 26 and 30 may be adjusted to the body of the wearer and thus tighten the band in the degree required, I provide a series of spaced eyes 38 and 40 on the fabric element 42 sewed to the strap 26.

The eyes 38 and 40 may be formed from pockets formed in the material of the element 42, though it will be understood that any other type of adjustable strap joining means may be utilized, the hook and pocket formation being preferable because of added strength and simplicity.

Upon arranging the girdle on the body (as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2), the band 20 is t ghtened by adjustably joining the straps 26 and 30 together, as desired, as by means of the hooks and eyes. Since, the band 20 is formed from a resilient or stretchable material, it will adjust itself against the body of the wearer to properly support it and prevent unsightly and uncomfortable bulges and folds over the upper edge of the confining garment whereas the necessary confining tension is provided by the adjustable straps 26 and 30, which do not stretch since they are formed from a nonresilient or non-stretchable material.

While I have described my invention in detail, the example given is illustrative and is not given as a limitationsince other modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Hence, the invention is to be understood as limited only as indicated in the appended claims in which the intent is to set forth all the novelty over the prior art.

I claim:

1. A girdle formed from a sheath or tube of knitted stretchable fabric and having an upper edge, a stretchable band having its lower edge secured to the upper edge of the girdle at the front of the girdle and terminating into spaced ends whereby the band terminates at the back of said girdle between the sides of the girdle, and the upper edge of the girdle at the rear thereof beyond the sides thereof is free of the band and unsecured to each end of the band, said band being of the same width throughout its length, a strap member secured to one end of the band, a second strap member secured to the other end of the band and means on one strap member cooperating with means on'the other strap member for adjustably securing the strap members together, said strap members constituting a continuation of the band and spaced upwardly from the upper edge of the girdle upon securing the straps together by said adjustable securing means and said straps formed from a non-stretchable material, said straps being of the same width and smaller in width than the band.

2. The girdle of claim 1, said means on one strap member being detachably secured to said means on the other strap member.

' WIILIAM R. SPIESS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,136,742 Herbener Nov. 15, 1938 2,261,547 Goodman et a1 Nov. 4, 1941 2,375,745 Alfandre May 15, 1945 

